Kanye was rushed to UCLA hospital this week to be treated for exhaustion, sleep deprivation and a possible episode of psychosis. It followed the news that he’d cancelled the 21 remaining dates of his tour.

Now, it’s not my place (or anyone’s) to diagnose a famous stranger with a mental illness from afar, particularly without a medical degree. It’s also difficult to tell exactly what’s happened, with tabloids rushing to quote anonymous sources who claim Kanye ‘lost touch with reality’. But, with the information we do have about Kanye’s hospitalisation, it’s safe to say this: it’s time to change the way we talk about Kanye West.

For a long time now – in fact, the entire duration of his omnipresence in pop culture – he’s been somewhat of a novelty. He rants and raves and rages at concerts – as recently as last week, he hijacked his own concert to deliver an impassioned speech about not trusting Jay-Z and Beyonce. He’s publicly approached Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for money, referred to himself as Jesus, our savior, and likened himself to God. His Twitter account reads like a series of disconnected thoughts.

All of that behaviour has made Kanye West a ‘joke’ to millions of people. He is exceptionally talented and successful, but those aren’t the words people use to describe him. We use ‘crazy’ or ‘insane’ or, kindly, ‘eccentric’. In light of a possible mental health breakdown, it’s not really appropriate to speak about him in those terms anymore.

If he has suffered an episode of psychosis, that’s a serious and frightening experience. Psychosis is “when you perceive or interpret reality in a very different way from people” according to mental health charity mind. That might include disorganised speech and thinking, delusions, or hallucinations. It could make someone feel confused and scared.

In America, there are 100,000 cases of psychosis a year. They’re often associated with conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The rate of active psychotic disorder in the adult population of the UK is 4 in 1000 people. None of those people should ever be referred to as ‘crazy’, or ‘insane’ either.

It’s a debilitating, distressing condition and anyone unlucky enough to go through it deserves psychiatric care from experts and extreme compassion from everyone else. That applies to Kanye West, too. Mental illness does not discriminate. In fact, Lady Gaga said it perfectly when she tweeted:

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While I don't agree with everything he does I hope the public shows compassion and ❤️for @kanyewest and each other. One love. One Race.